1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a computer program, and, in particular, to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a computer program for enhancing the ease of data handling in the editing and checking process of data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the production of television programs, a series of production steps are performed systematically, efficiently, and precisely. A scenario is first created, material gathering is performed based on the scenario, and material data, such as video data and audio data, is produced. The material data is then edited. The edited data is concatenated, text is superimposed on the video data, music is added, and data is thus finalized as a television program in a complete packet.
The scenario, the material data, the complete packet, etc. were conventionally produced and managed as separate data.
For example, the scenario is printed on sheets and printed sheets are then bound into a wordbook. The video data and audio data (both the video data and the audio data are collectively referred to as material data) are produced as separate data from material gathering process to material gathering process, and are then stored in different media (such as video tapes). The complete packet is also produced as new data different from the material data, and is recorded, as a material to be shipped, on a medium (such as a video tape) different from the media of the material data.
In such a program production work, data needs to be shared by a plurality of persons. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-290731 discloses one technique. In the disclosed technique, when an operator edits material data, a still image of a scene (edit image) serving as a key in an editing process and a captured timecode corresponding to the edit image are registered as a web page in a server. The server then provides the web page to terminals as a bulletin board, and then transfers an edit image to a terminal in response to a request from that terminal. The transferred edit image contains the timecode corresponding to the edit image. A user of the terminal learns a location of the still image in the material data based on the timecode.
In the disclosed technique, however, the location of the previously registered edit image of one piece of material data can be found, but other related data cannot be referenced. More specifically, if data to be referenced is identified by a user, searching can be performed at a reference location based on registered information. However, if a plurality of mutually related data are managed independently, it is difficult to trace back to pre-edit material data used in the production of a complete packet (the material data produced as a result of a material gathering operation), and the scenario.
For example, when an editor references a portion of the complete packet, the editor may wish to reference an image of the pre-edit material data corresponding to that portion. The editor then replays the pre-edit material data together with the complete packet, and visually searches for the same portion based on the displayed image. Such a process inconveniences the editor.
Similarly, the editor may wish to reference the scenario corresponding to the complete packet. The editor compares the image of the complete packet with the scenario to search for the corresponding portion of the scenario.
A similar inconvenience occurs when data is referenced from data other than the complete packet. Operators frequently reference one data based on another data. Each time operators are forced to perform the above-mentioned complex job.
A complex job is performed to search for the pre-edit material data and the scenario from the complete packet. The editor has difficulty in a check process and an edit process. The check process is performed to check whether the complete packet has been produced in accordance with the scenario and to confirm in the pre-edit material data what the editor is aware of about the complete packet. The edit process requires the pre-edit material data and the scenario in accordance with the complete packet to modify an edit content of the complete packet and to produce another complete packet using the current complete packet.